The New York architect Annabelle Selldorf speaks at the Neue Nationalgalerie on Monday 16 November 2026 at 6.30pm. Under the title The Work We Do and How We Think About It she presents projects by her firm, Selldorf Architects, and talks about the principles behind them. The lecture is in English and free. It is this year's Marina Kellen French Lecture, organised with the American Academy in Berlin.
Selldorf, who grew up in Cologne, founded her practice in New York in 1988. She has become the go-to architect for museums that need to grow without losing their character. She designed the Neue Galerie in New York and, more recently, the expansion and renovation of the Frick Collection, which reopened in 2025, as well as the new Sainsbury Wing entrance at the National Gallery in London and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. In May 2026 her firm and Studios Architecture won the competition for the "Louvre Nouvelle Renaissance": the first major overhaul of the Louvre in almost forty years, with a new entrance and a gallery of its own for the Mona Lisa.
What to expect
The venue suits the subject. Mies van der Rohe's glass hall was itself taken apart and rebuilt by David Chipperfield Architects between 2015 and 2021, with almost no visible change. Few cities have a better example of the question Selldorf deals with every day: how much a landmark museum should change to keep working.
Good to know
- When: Monday 16 November 2026, 6.30pm
- Where: Neue Nationalgalerie, Potsdamer Straße 50, 10785 Berlin. The museum itself is closed on Mondays, so this is an evening event only.
- Entry: free. Check the Staatliche Museen events calendar or the American Academy for any registration requirement.
- Language: English
- Getting there: bus 200, M29, M48, M85 to Potsdamer Brücke, or S+U Potsdamer Platz (about ten minutes on foot)
Nearby
The next evening, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra plays the Philharmonie, three minutes across the Kulturforum. The Neue Nationalgalerie's history starts with its opening in 1968.